Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection

A new 35mm print of the feature film, YOU CAN'T SEE 'ROUND CORNERS, is now available. Courtesy of the Seven Network (Operations) Ltd and the sponsors Kodak (Australasia) and Atlab Australia

NFSA National Collection Title number 32585

YOU CAN'T SEE 'ROUND CORNERS (1969)
Classification: ?? rating

Director: David Cahill

Year of Production: 1968

Duration: 98 minutes
Format: 35mm, Colour. Mono-optical soundtrack. Remastered to Dolby® Digital.

Production Company: Amalgamated Television Services
Producer: Peter Summerton
Screenplay: Richard Lane, based on the novel by Jon Cleary
Director of Photography: Graham Lind
Production Designer: Bill Wells
Editor, Special Effects: Jacques De Vigne
Composer: Tommy Tycho
Sound recordists: Weston Baker

Cast: Ken Shorter (Frankie McCoy), Rowena Wallace (Margie Harris), Carmen Duncan (Myra Neilson), Judith Fisher (Peg Clancy), Lyndall Barbour (Mrs Mccoy), Slim de Grey (Mick Patterson), Max Cullen (Peeper), Kevin Leslie (Ern), Goff Vockler (Barney), Lou Vernon (Nugget), John Armstrong (Jack Kelly), Peter Aanensen (Sergeant Quinn), Max Phipps (Keith Grayson), Vincent Gil (Lennie Ryan), Henri Szeps (Peter), Marion Johns (mrs Harris), John Barnes (Mr Harris), the Atlantics.

Synopsis

A former SP Bookie and born-loser, Frank McCoy is conscripted into the army for the Vietnam War but later deserts the army. After his girlfriend Margie wants nothing to do with him and leaves, he then pursues easy money and falls into debt to illegal bookmakers. He drifts into a nightclub at Kings Cross and accidentally kills a girl during an argument and goes on the run.

Background

Jon Cleary's novel was set post- WWII in 1947 and was updated for the screen to the 1960s, originally as a 26-episode television series produced in 1967 by the Seven Network. The feature film was completed immediately following the completion of the series using the same production crew. Completed on a budget of $60,000, mostly shot in the studios with a few scenes shot on location of army training and a tour of Sydney Harbour. It was distributed by Universal and broke records in Perth where it premiered on 16 January 1969 and was moderately successful in the eastern states.

You Can't See 'Round Corners is one of the very few Australian films that reference the Vietnam War. (see The Odd Angry Shot). Pretty ropey movie but based on a popular TV series that was important in its day. I think it could reveal a lot about our popular culture in the 1960s. I still remember its reference to the Vietnam War. – Andrew Pike

One of only five feature films made in Australia and released in 1969. The other films were Age of Consent (d. Michael Powell), Two Thousand Weeks (d. Tim Burstall), It Takes All Kinds (d. Eddie Davis) and The Intruders (d. Lee Robinson).

Preservation

The 35mm original picture negative, final mix, interpositive and sound negative are preserved with the National Screen and Sound Archive. Only one poor quality print exists. A new print will have remastered soundtrack to Dolby SR Digital.